Batter up to life

Cluley sons honor their father

Contributed photo
Ken Cluley started his minor league career in 1948 with the San Angelo Colts of the Longhorn League.

The Cluley family, Eddie (from left), Joe, Tim, Ken, Kenny and Jerry played for the Queen of Peace slow-pitch softball team in the 1970s. John is on his father's knee.

Courtesy photos
Ken Cluley and his sons, Joe (from left), Kenny, Ken, Tim and John gather for a "guys meeting" just a few weeks before his death April 4. In front are Jerry and Eddie.

Cluley sons honor their father

Father's Day is a time when the large Cluley clan always gathers together for a big meal and a little backyard baseball.

But today will be different.

The leading hitter won't be there.

Ken Cluley, a man whom son Tim calls "the strength and leader" of the family, died on April 4.

So today the family will gather to celebrate the life of a Michigan farm boy who came to Texas swinging a big bat back in 1948 and left enough children and grandchildren to field three baseball teams.

Ken Cluley hopped on a lot of buses in a lot of small towns in a seven-year minor league baseball career that began with the San Angelo Colts in 1948 and ended with the Wichita Falls Spudders in 1954. He was a .306 career hitter who ended his career with an impressive .360 batting average for the Spudders.

But the highlight of Cluley's baseball career came when he met Diann Wehba at a ballpark in Vernon.

Ken Cluley loved baseball, poker and a good cigar, but his real love was for the daughter of a Lebanese immigrant.

They were married in 1949 and had a 63-year love affair that produced six sons — Kenny, Eddie, Jerry, Joe, Tim and John — and 21 grandchildren.

Despite his love of baseball, Ken Cluley never forced his sons to play the game.

"Daddy wasn't a guy who said, 'Hey, I want you to go do it.' He just tossed a ball out; we did it," said Joe, the No. 4 son.

"He wasn't really ambitious about a career. What he was ambitious about was us," added Tim, the No. 5 son. "He turned down a lot of supervisory positions at work and drove a truck for Taystee Bread for 32 years.

Joe choked up when he talked about the memories of his dad getting out of that bread truck and tossing the ball with his sons in the backyard.

The Cluley home on Woodlawn Street was a hangout for all the neighborhood kids.

"Our backyard had a natural base path, not because we cut it that way, but because we just wore out the grass," Joe said. "We all became pretty competitive from it and beat each other up a little bit."

"Our house was a refuge for everybody. My dad never knew how to be prejudiced. He had a rare gift that didn't judge anybody. If somebody was different, it was their business. He didn't judge by race, creed or anything."

All the boys played high school sports. Joe played college football at Peru State in Nebraska and later was a high school coach in Texas, including a two-year stint at Wichita Falls High School in the early '90s. Joe Jr. is an assistant coach at WFHS.

But Joe acknowledges big brother Eddie was the best baseball player.

"He led the city in hitting his junior and senior years in high school," he said.

After his retirement, Ken Cluley drove the bus for Notre Dame baseball and did some maintenance at the school just so he could share his golden years with his grandchildren.

Joe said his dad had a funny side, too, and told a story about when his parents were worshipping at a Catholic church in downtown San Antonio.

During the service, a street woman came into the church and walked down the center aisle while the priest was delivering his sermon.

She pointed behind the priest and said "I see Jesus," then lay down on the floor.

She got up, pointed behind the priest and repeated, "I see Jesus."

A security person then came down and politely escorted the woman out of the church.

Ken turned to Diann and said; "All our lives, they have told us that Jesus is here. Then someone finally sees him, and they kick her out of the church."